In a cassette type recording/playing machine typically there are a recording/playing head, one or two capstan(s) and one or two pinch roller(s). For proper operation of the recording/playing machine, it is turned off so that the surface portions of these components can be cleaned periodically.
The prior art shows various cassette-like devices for cleaning the recording/playing head, the capstan and pinch roller of a cassette type recording/playing machine. One known cleaning device has a cleaning element to engage the peripheral surface of the recording/playing head and can only reciprocally clean along its peripheral surface, but not rotatably clean. Thus, the peripheral surface of the head cannot be effectively cleaned.
Other known cleaning devices have a cleaning element fixedly mounted inside each window of the cassette type housing. When both the capstan and pinch roller are inserted into each window, said cleaning element is intended to contact both components simultaneously. In fact, this object cannot be achieved since if one of the components contacts one portion of the cleaning element, the other portions are always depressed away from the other components so that they cannot contact such other components. Even if both components can contact the cleaning element simultaneously, the pressures applied on those components by the cleaning element are different. Thus, one of the components cannot always be effectively cleaned.
For solving this problem, the prior art teaches two separate cleaning elements respectively mounted on two separate elastic members. However, one of the cleaning elements blocks the capstan hole so that the capstan cannot easily be inserted into the capstan hole of the cassette type housing.